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Hertfordshire County Council

Every word on www.hertfordshire.gov.uk must: 

  • serve a current purpose – meeting a customer need or reasonable council objective (i.e. an objective that won't negatively impact our customers)

  • be easy to find and understand for everyone.


The website must get the right content to the right people at the right time.

Here’s how we do we that:

4 content principles to keep customers happy

Tone and voice

4 content principles to keep customers happy

1. Keep it brief

Website customers are ruthless. They skip over anything which looks like too much hassle to read.

Typically, customers only read 20% of a web page.


People scan pages

  • Use short sentences and paragraphs.
  • Emphasise key points using bold text.
  • Use bullet points for lists.
  • Use numbers instead words, e.g. ‘6’ instead of ‘six’.  (It's OK to break some grammar rules)

 

Say it once

  • Don’t duplicate content – link out to the definitive source on a subject, if we are not it. Don't duplicate content.
  • Don't repeat information on multiple pages across the website.

 

 

2. Keep it clear

Customers don’t have time. They want to complete their task and leave the website. Simple language and uncluttered pages will help them.


Avoid jargon

  • Don’t use corporate buzzwords and jargon – they are unclear to most people. They also give off an officious tone. 
  • Don’t try to teach people your internal language if it’s not essential.
  • Avoid using acronyms where possible - more about acronyms.
  • Read your content out loud. If it sounds weird, it is.

Use customer language

  • Don’t assume people know as much about your service as you do.
  • Choose common words, and define specific terms if you need to use them.
  • Write for people with a reading age of 9 years old – short sentences and simple, common words. Aiming for a lower reading age helps people get things done faster.
  • Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – include phrases and words our customers use in page titles, subheadings, content and links. This helps our web pages appear higher in search results and makes it easier for customers to search and find what they’re looking for.

Make calls to action clear 

Customers should know what they're expected to do and how to do it.

  • Use buttons to show people they need to press something.
  • Use bold, purple text links for secondary calls to action.
  • Use meaningful link text to give a clear idea of what content is being linked to.

 

Call things what they are

  • Use stand-alone pages titles which make sense without context.
  • Use pages titles that reflect their content.

 

Images / photography

  • Use images only where they meet a need – not simply to ‘pretty up’ a page.
  • Images should support navigation, i.e. they help the customer make a choice, or give reassurance that customers are in the right area.
  • Using 'action images' of people doing relevant activities can help customers quickly decide whether that content is what they’re looking for.

 

3. Keep it relevant

All content must serve a current purpose. It must be obviously relevant to the customer, otherwise it could be missed or disregarded.

Stay on point.

  • Publish content only where there is a need for it. No waffle or unnecessary detail.
  • We don't publish content just in case someone might need it. If there's no evidenced demand, we don't publish it.
  • Make it clear what’s in it for the customer. Why do they need to know?  Why should they take an action?
  • Hide the complexity. A customer rarely needs to know the detail of our processes.
  • Don't overuse hyperlinks. When a customer gets to a hyperlink on a page they have to choose whether to carry on reading or go to the new page. Too many links on a page force more decisions and increases the interaction cost. So only use where they add value.
  • Calls to action buttons should be kept to a minimum and be focused on the one or two key actions we want people to take from the page.
  • Keep content up-to-date and accurate. Set reviews for time-dependent content so out of date information is removed.

 

4. Keep it structured

Show the important things first.

Make sure:

  • the most popular tasks are at the top of a page
  • calls to action are prominent
  • less popular content (including information we’re obliged to publish) doesn't get in the way of top tasks
  • we have a proportionate volume of content / pages based on user need and behaviour
  • we structure things according to user behaviour, not necessarily how the council is organised internally
  • content which serves our goals (such as campaigns) doesn't get in the way of customer top tasks
  • niche content is not published on the website. The website is for content in high demand.

 

FAQs – try not to use them

FAQs are an easy way for writers to share what they want to say. However, they are often difficult for customers to scan through.

If you have a set of genuine frequently asked questions, put the answers in your content.

FAQs are poor practice because they:

  • mean the customer has to invest their time reading through all the FAQs with no certainty that their question will be answered. This adds to the interaction cost of your content - people are more likely to ignore it
  • often duplicate other content on the site
  • can't be front-loaded (putting the most important words first) which makes scan-reading more difficult
  • usually aren't frequently asked questions by the public but information we think people want
  • can appear out of context. FAQs can feel "dumped" at the end of a page. It's easier to find information if it's intuitively structured in context.

 
But don't take our word for it...

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